1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to data processing systems and, in particular, to a data processing system for determining a physical location of a computer system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system in a data processing system for a computer system to provide an indication of its physical location in response to a receipt of a wireless signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computer systems have attained widespread use for providing computing power to many segments of today's modern society. Personal computer systems can usually be defined as a desk top, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that consists of a system unit having at least one system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard, one or more diskette drives, a fixed disk storage, and an optional printer. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard (also known as and occasionally mentioned herein as a system board, system planar, or planar) to electronically connect these components together. These systems are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user and are inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or small businesses. Examples of such personal computer systems are IBM's Intellistation and IBM's PC 300 PL and PC 300 GL.
Typically, in a business environment, many computer systems are distributed throughout various locations within the physical facilities. Keeping track of the physical location of each computer system is difficult. The difficulty in maintaining an accurate record of each computer system's current physical location greatly increases as the number of computer systems increases. Contributing to this problem is the likelihood that at least some of these computer systems will be moved from one location to another.
Significant costs are associated with asset tracking of computer systems in a large business environment. Manually locating and inventorying each individual system is typically the method used.
In some known networked computer systems, each network controller may be associated with a unique address. Utilizing the unique address of the controller, each client physically coupled to the network may be identified. However, the address of the controller is not associated with a physical location. Therefore, if the controller is moved to a new physical location, the record of the physical locations of the computer systems again becomes inaccurate.
Universal unique identifiers (UUIDs) are well known in the PC industry which may be associated with each computer system included within a data processing system. Utilizing the UUIDs, each computer system may be uniquely identified. The UUID associated with a particular computer system identifies the computer system, but not the physical location of the computer system. A manual search must be performed to determine the physical location of each computer system.
One known standard for computer systems is the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) standard from the Desktop Management Task force. The standard defines a framework for collecting and storing management information from desktop PC hardware, software, and peripherals. For example, asset and inventory information may be managed utilizing the DMI standard.
Therefore a need exists for a method and system in a data processing system for a computer system to provide an indication of its physical location.